Jeremy Lin: Why the New Golden Boy of the NY Knicks Is Completely Overhyped

The Jeremy Lin rage began on February 4th when the New York Knicks took on the New Jersey Nets. Lin performed extremely well in the game, as he scored 25 points, and the Knicks ended up winning 99-92; snapping a skid in which they had lost five of their last six games.

Linsanity, as it is now being dubbed, continued to heat up as Lin continued to perform extremely well over the next five games, even putting up a 38 point night as the Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. Needless to say, twitter exploded every night, the media fell in love with him and immediately he was placed in a category with Tim Tebow because "All he does is Lin".

Does Jeremy Lin really deserve all of this hype though?

I want to give Jeremy Lin credit for his performances. He has yet to have a night where he scored under 20 points in a game, and his presence has seemingly provided a spark to the New York Knicks. However, with the attention Lin is receiving it would appear that the second coming of Michael Jordan is upon us.

Articles are being written across the globe about Jeremy Lin. How can he be stopped? Why is Jeremy Lin so unique? How should the NBA get Jeremy Lin incorporated in the All-Star Game?

Why would we want a man who only has five career starts to play in the All-Star Game? Should the NBA really lower their standards that much and let Jeremy Lin participate in a game that is supposed to be for the NBA's elite? Maybe Lin belongs there next year or five years down the line, but certainly he is not worthy to play alongside LeBron James and Dwayne Wade at this point in his career.

Should Jeremy Lin participate in All-Star Weekend?

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Should Jeremy Lin participate in All-Star Weekend?

Yes

41.7%

No

58.3%

Total votes: 103

Six good games does not make you an All-Star, nor should it.

The other problem I have with Lin is the fact that he is not really a star player. Jeremy Lin turns the ball over a lot. Over his five starts Lin has turned the ball over 30 times, which is an average of six turnovers a game. To put that in context, Russell Westbrook has the second most turnovers per game, and he turns the ball over about 4.3 times per games.

In fact, if Jeremy Lin played an entire 82 game season and continued to turn the ball over at his current rate, he would break the NBA record for most turnovers in a single season by 126. I do not consider that good basketball—that is awful basketball.

Most people do not want to acknowledge the fact that Lin turns the ball over a lot though, they just want to talk about his scoring and passing stats. We can talk about those stats as well.

One of the new common misconceptions about Jeremy Lin is that he has the ability to knock down the three point shot. This misconception has come about because Lin hit a three pointer with under one second to play last night against the Toronto Raptors to give the Knicks a 90-87 victory.

Lin is actually a very bad three point shooter, and the stats prove this. In the month of February, since Linsanity captivated America, Lin is shooting 26 percent from the three point line. That puts Lin at 113th in the league in terms of three point percentage. Once again, not very good.

As far as the rest of his shooting goes, it is hard to knock him. Lin's overall shooting percentage is 49 percent, which although very good, still only puts him at 31st in the NBA.

Lin has also been known to be extremely good at passing the ball. Lin currently averages 7.4 assists per game this month, which puts him at 11th overall in the NBA. Although his assist total is extremely good, his assist to turnover ratio is not. His assist to turnover ratio of 1.23, ranks him 72nd among NBA players.

The last item I want to address are the teams the Knicks have been playing. Apart from the game against the Lakers, the Knicks are yet to play against a reputable team with Jeremy Lin. The teams they have been playing are dreadful. Outside of the Lakers, whose record is a respectable 17-12, the combined record of the Knicks' opponents is an abysmal 51-94.

Although Lin's performances have been considered sensational, they have not exactly been against the cream of the crop in the NBA.

Although many of the NBA fans in our country have caught Linsanity, I believe Lin still needs to prove himself. He has only started five games, which is not a knock on him, it is just a fact. He turns the ball over way too much and the rest of his game is average to slightly above average.

Jeremy Lin is a good basketball player, but there are plenty of good basketball players in the NBA.